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Fostering Constructive Dialogues Across Divides

Led by Hélène Biandudi Hofer and David Bornstein of Solutions Journalism Network, this webinar will show how we can reach across divides to meaningfully engage with individuals who have significantly different perspectives and beliefs.

Led by Hélène Biandudi Hofer and David Bornstein of Solutions Journalism Network, this webinar will show how we can reach across divides to meaningfully engage with individuals who have significantly different perspectives and beliefs, and how we can teach team members and stakeholders to use deep listening techniques to foster more constructive dialogue. During this session, Biandudi Hofer and Bornstein will:

  • Dive into groundbreaking research on “Complicating the Narratives" as a way to engage people with fundamentally different opinions, positions, and values.

  • Discuss the interviewing, deep listening, and framing techniques SJN adapted to help make moments of genuine connection possible even when there’s disagreement.

  • Share a case study of how Solutions Journalism Network has applied the “Complicating the Narratives” research and conflict-mediation techniques (uncovered by Emerson Collective Fellow Amanda Ripley) to help journalists create more accurate and illuminating narratives about polarization in America.

About the Speakers

Hélène Biandudi Hofer is a broadcast journalist, a documentary filmmaker, and a media entrepreneur. Prior to joining The Complicated Narratives Project, she spent nearly a decade reporting for public television and radio. Biandudi Hofer anchored and produced the PBS news show, Need to Know, on WXXI Television in Rochester, New York, and contributed to feature reports for NPR. In the commercial-news realm, she worked for CBS News president Susan Zirinsky at the CBS Primetime show, 48 Hours Mystery. Biandudi Hofer is the owner of HBH Enterprises, the production company and media group she founded, which creates and produces short films about issues that matter and stories that often go untold.

David Bornstein is the CEO and a co-founder of the Solutions Journalism Network, which works to establish the practice of solutions journalism—rigorous reporting that examines responses to social problems—as an integral part of mainstream news. He has been a newspaper and magazine reporter for 25 years. He co-authors the Fixes column in The New York Times Opinionator section. His books include, “How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas,” “The Price of a Dream: The Story of the Grameen Bank,” and “Social Entrepreneurship: What Everyone Needs to Know.”

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